Risk management
Fact or fiction cost or profit
news briefs
Warning to restricted
O-Licence holders
Do you pay lip service to vehicle and driver risk management or do you take it seriously? Really seriously!!
Are your risk management efforts
reaping you some rewards – in
profit? There has never been a
better time to review your efforts
in the light of these questions and
the stark facts that follow.
Let’s start with the words themselves: ‘Risk’ and
‘Management’. Where do you put your effort?
Which is the key word, ‘risk’ or ‘management’?
Driving at work is the biggest killer in business
but is often the smallest part of your Health
& Safety policy. In fact, more people are
killed whilst driving at work than in any other
workplace activity. The most recent DfT and
HSE annual figures indicate that a total of
171 people were killed at work and yet DfT
estimates are that more than 500 people were
killed in road accidents whilst at work.
So, isn’t it time to do something to prevent this
happening? Driving at work accidents cost
lives, cost time and cost you money. Money that
could be going into your profits … now!
What is your policy on wearing high viz vests?
It’s probably robust, clear and consistent. What
action do you take if someone doesn’t wear
their high viz when they should? My guess is
you probably rarely have to take any action,
apart from the occasional word. Most people
buy into the idea and wear their high viz when
they should and accept it as the norm.
A 5% reduction in speed is reckoned to be
worth a 10% reduction in accidents and a 20%
reduction in fatalities.
So – we have a robust policy to ensure people
wear high-viz vests when the link between
wearing a vest and accidents is unproven
compared to little or no policy controls over
driving at excessive speed where the linkage
between speed, accidents and fatalities is clear.
Robust, clear and consistent controls over
the use of any company vehicle will save lives
and save you money and it’ll also protect your
business. Remember; if you hold an O Licence
it is a condition of your Undertaking that your
‘Vehicles operate within speed limits’ and it
is a criminal offence not to comply with this
Undertaking.
So, don’t just look at you’re your own collision,
fatality, injury and damage records. Look at
your industry, transport, truck, van, bus, coach
or car. You and your drivers are part of the risk
profile of the whole sector.
The most recent DfT and HSE annual figures
indicate that a total of 171 people were killed
at work including workplace transport. DfT
estimates are that more than 500 people were
killed in road accidents whilst at work.
22 // Issue 15www.backhousejones.co.uk
Mr Denton is reported to have recently
seen several cases at Public Inquiry
where restricted O-Licence holders
run with digital tachograph vehicles
but do not know how to use them,
suggesting “it is simply not acceptable
for operators to purchase vehicles fitted
with digital tachographs and then run
them without bothering to find out what
the legal requirements relating to digital
tachographs are”.
Mr Denton has gone on to say that
“the legal requirements are not a state
secret – they are clearly set out on the
government website and trade bodies
such as the RHA and the FTA as well as
the trade press”.
“Too many operators seem to be content
to get their advice on digital tachographs
from a bloke down the pub, rather than
DVSA or a trade body. Unsurprisingly,
that advice turns out all too often to be
completely wrong.”
The TC said he found it astonishing that
licence holders were appearing at PI
having been reported for, among other
things, failing to acquire a company
tachograph card or any download
software.
But what about speeding? What is your policy
on speeding? Is it robust, clear and consistent?
What action do you take if a driver is caught
speeding whilst at work? It’s not enough that
they have committed an offence; that they have
exposed themselves and others to risk. You
have also committed an offence - check your
O-Licence undertaking.
Do you check if drivers have been speeding?
In both very large and very small companies
there may be some bland comment in a driver’s
handbook or policy document yet there is
little or no action taken to ‘manage’ the issue
and yet excessive speed is estimated to be
a contributory factor in 27% of road deaths.
Nick Denton, the Traffic Commissioner for
London and the South East, has issued a
warning to restricted O-Licence holders
who neglect their legal duties when using
vehicles fitted with digital tachographs.
David Somers
“How can an operator seek to prove they
are complying with the regulations - and
crucially check whether their drivers are
working within the drivers’ hours rules if they can’t download driver or vehicle
data?” he said. “Restricted operators
need to be alert to these requirements
and the potential impact on their licence
of failing to meet them.”
David Somers
T: 0113 2670881
E: [email protected]
tel: 08450 575111
Issue 15 // 23